Ginny Aiken: Where do you get your amazing idea?

Today I’m delighted to welcome my friend and marvelous writer Ginny Aiken to my blog. Her latest book, For Such a Time as This, the first in her Women of Hope Series, is available now from FaithWords! It’s a great book which I’ll review that on Thursday. Thanks for stopping by, Ginny. You’re on!

I used to be stumped when asked where I got my ideas. Recently, I’ve accepted a simple fact. Yes, I’m a sponge, soaking up random stuff around me. That includes TV news, overheard snippets at fast-food restaurants, and my secret source. What’s that, you ask?

My crazy-weird life!

I’m the mother of four sons. Imagine the wacko scenarios over the years. Also, imagine the parade of teen-aged boys that trooped through our home. You might also figure things have settled down now that the nest is empty. You’d figure wrong. Things are as insane as ever.

A couple of years ago, my agent said, “Please don’t send me a memoir. No editor would consider it. They’d say all that can’t happen to one human.” He was right. No one would believe it. But it’s true.

Starting with the rabid-dog bite when I was three (Yes, I do remember, in a blur, the doctors, pain, and Mom’s tears), followed by the start of ballet training, and winding up with our family’s risky flight from Castro’s Cuba very early after his takeover, all before my sixth birthday, and you can see where the madness began.

Then came the parenting-four-boys years, including sports teams’ worth of friends, the marching band that crashed at our house, the drum corps years…more hair-raising adventures. Guess when my writing career solidified?

If you think the madness ended when the last kiddo left for college, then you’re mistaken. My latest situation, in no way offspring-related, includes un-sought and unwanted hands-on research into identity theft and checking-account-hacking.

Plenty of as-you-go writing ideas. Think I’m going to squander them? No way! I’ve been writing too long to tolerate such waste. Someday, you’ll see a Ginny Aiken book that features checking-account-theft. But please wait. I have to see how our case—ahem…my research turns out.

Writing is my budget-wise mental-health plan. Who needs a shrink when you can resolve any situation however you want on paper? That’s the beauty of being a writer. You can edit anything you put on paper, even kill off the cyber-thieves—er…the wrong-doers. Thank goodness! I’d be a neurotic mess, in solitary confinement, in a white room, tied into a lovely white jacket, humming in monotone, otherwise.